


One hell of a brat

by Hello_Im_not_a_possum



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Cuphead didn't either, Decapitation, Karma AU (kinda), Mugman did not sign up for this, Other, king dice technically did sign up for it... but he's not getting paid enough to deal with it., the cup bros are around the 10-11 ages, the devil is both metaphorically and literally a child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 23:56:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 14,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_Im_not_a_possum/pseuds/Hello_Im_not_a_possum
Summary: due to a law of hell of "strongest one rules" and the Devil getting his butt kicked he is no longer qualified to rule hell. however the cup bros do not wish to rule hell either as it is hell. They instead try to take satan to elder kettle to see if he can help fix this mess and get the devil back on the throne.





	1. In which king Dice shows up does nothing but throw a flask and goes on his merry way.

King Dice had not overheard the "good for nothing" comment made by his boss, but a little imp that probably wanted to get a rise out of him certainly was "friendly" enough to fill him in on what he missed, including the fact that the two boys beat the devil in less then half the time it took for them to fight him. He wasn't angry at his boss, he'd been called worse things by the debtors and the common gamblers on a daily basis. But that wasn't going to stop him from rubbing the fact that he lasted longer in battle than his boss right in his face.

 

That was until, he got to the throne room. There was three children in there, two of them being the cup brothers, they looked a little worse for wear then when King Dice first saw them but fighting every person in Inkwell who'd ever tried to cheat the devil, all the devil's workers, and the big man himself would wear down anyone. The third one was slightly shorter then Cuphead, completely naked but covered in thick dark fur, and looked like an angry, bruised and beaten kitten with one small horn, and a smaller broken horn.

 

Dice didn't recognize the third kid at first but instantly recognized him as his boss upon hearing the sarcasm-soaked bitterness in the child's voice. "I AIN'T TOUCHING THAT THING WITH A TEN FOOT POLE!" "Well good news it's practically an eleven-foot pole, with pointy ends. And it's yours now!" "We can't rule hell! we have to be back home. School starts again in a week!" "Our teacher gets suspicious if we're faking or not over something as minor as a sick day! how's she gonna believe we rule the pits of hell because we beat you?!"

 

"Tell your teacher to wise up and suck a lemon! rules are rules and down here needs a ruler which would be one of you two if you weren't being such babies about it!" "Weren't you crying during the fight?" "YOU SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!" the devil squeaked while wiping slightly dried tears off his face. "But what will happen to you? and the Casino? will the workers quit if we start running this joint?"

 

"I can't say for the rest of the casino but I certainty will" King Dice said as he took a flask from out of his tuxedo and over-dramatically threw it to the distance where the sound of something expensive breaking was heard and the sound of a cat yowling in pain from being hit with a thrown flask. Upon the realization of 'classic joke aside, he should not have done that' he swiftly ran as fast as he could out of the room ignoring the high-pitched wrathful cursing of his former boss.

 

Wether he really did quit or was fired instead on that day King dice didn't know, but this story is not truly about king dice it is about the trio of somewhat mature children squabbling like much more immature children over who gets to be the king of hell. But a better start to this would've been roughly fifteen minutes ago, when the trouble just started brewing and we get some explanation of what's going on.


	2. Around fifteen minutes before chapter 1

The devil was defeated, the contracts got burnt and Cuphead and Mugman would've happy skipped back to town to tell everyone the good news. Had it not been for the devil's trident blocking the door, glowing ominously with the fires of hell and emitting a nasty hiss like noise. At first the two boys looked towards the devil assuming his trident's blockade meant he wanted a rematch. But the devil was knocked out cold on the floor and looked like if he was awake he'd be howling in pain, or at least softly sobbing.

 

Perhaps the trident didn't want them to leave it's master in THAT sorry of a state. Cuphead cautiously approached the devil, noticing that his form was now much smaller and slightly fluffier then the towering, long-horned demon king that sat on the throne mere minutes ago. Heck, now he looked even smaller then Cuphead! He knelt down beside the passed out demon and lightly shook him in an effort to wake him, which was a terrible idea as both brothers soon found out.

 

The devil's eyes shot wide open and the first thing he did after regaining consciousness (and after trying to steady himself up) was to try to strangle Cuphead. This had failed on the devil's end as Cuphead simply had to remove his head and keep it out of the devil's reach while Mugman held the devil back to keep him from trying to attack his brother. Satan screeched, squirmed, cried, bit, punched, scratched, kicked and tried to head-butt his captors as Mugman tried fruitlessly to calm him down, giving all three of them shiny new nicks and bruises on top of the ones they already got from battle.

 

After what was probably the ten longest and most annoying minutes of the brothers' lives the Devil lost enough of his energy to stop attacking and curled up into a ball on the floor. An angry little ball of seething hatred and messy fur but much more tolerable then before. The cup bros would've left the devil alone as he very clearly did not want to talk to anyone and nobody in the room wanted part two of Satan's childish/animalistic wrath.

 

Unfortunately for everyone in the room, the trident still blocked the exit. The brothers sighed in unison. Mugman had approached the furious fur-ball, earning him a hiss from the ill-tempered little devil. Cuphead mouthed "Don't do it" as Mugman extended his hand to the fluffy pillow of sin and evil "Um, devil, we'd love to leave but your thing..." he awkwardly gestured at the trident "...won't let us leave."

 

In a second the devil got back on his feet and rushed over to the trident as if his tail was on fire, saying a slew of swearwords under his breath, he gripped the trident and tried to pull it up. The trident upon being grabbed by the devil let out a loud buzzer noise as it electrocuted the ex-demon king, sending both itself and the devil flying across the room. The trident landed between the two brothers with a "CLANK" while it started ominously humming while Satan crashed into the wall, leaving a hole shaped like himself behind.

 

Cuphead, not wanting to be electrocuted backed as far away as he could from the trident while Mugman ran over to help pull the devil out of the wall "It's all gone down the drain, I lost it all" the devil muttered weakly "what's going on? what did ya lose?" Devil pointed weakly to the trident and tried to shake himself awake. "whoever's the strongest rules hell, you two beat me, so now one of you rules hell."

 

"which one of us does?" "I don't know! fight to the death for the throne?" "I'M ELEVEN AND HE'S TEN!" Cuphead shouted to the devil, who flinched but did not retreat back into the wall "We didn't kill ya did we?" "might as well have..." the devil muttered as he brushed wall-dust out of his fur "anyway there's only one way to find out who own's this joint now one of you will have to grab that trident."


	3. opposites don't attract but they do get in sticky situations

Being held back by Mugman yet again to keep him from perusing his righthand man, The Devil had tried to pull his tail out of the blue mug's grip with little success and more embarrassment and anger then the little demon had ever felt his life. The annoyed yet concerned look on the mug's face had only rubbed salt into the wounds and squeezed a lemon in for good measure. He didn't even know if he could catch up to his lackey with his legs being so much longer then his own nor did he know what he could even do to king dice if he had to luck to catch him has he felt drained of most, if not all of his magic.

 

The Devil had wanted to beat the cup bros into porcelain piles of dust and bury what remained in the local garbage dump. but unfortunately for him his body was wracked with so much pain and exhaustion from the past fight, the tantrum, being thrown into a wall by his own trident, and losing his powers as well as his immortality. He was seeing spots and his small body threatened to send him back into unconsciousness but he couldn't let that happen.

 

After all with the trident no longer acting as a blockade there was nothing keeping the brothers from ditching him while he was knocked out leaving him to the mercy of the debtors and demons who would kill him without a second thought other then "finally the trash's out" Especially when that was what they tried to do before the trident got in the way. He continued pulling at his tail weakly hissing "let go" every now and again until the annoyed voice of Cuphead was heard "If I just let you punch me really hard will hell take you back as it's king?"

 

"If I punched your brother really hard would it make me your new brother? NO." he knocked on Cuphead's head for emphasis "You're NAMED after your own head so use it!" the devil tried to storm off in frustration forgetting that Mugman still held his tail and fell flat on his face. Mugman let go of the tail to help the devil up while Cuphead held back laughter. Unluckily for everyone the devil been knocked out, and his breathing became much more shallow then it was before.

 

"oh no no no no no CUPHEAD I THINK WE KILLED THE DEVIL!" the smile that was previously on Cuphead's face was wiped off in exchange for fear. To beat the crap of the devil because you needed to would be okay but to kill the devil, even by accident could land the boys in very hot water. "Don't panic I'm sure he's fine! we just need to find a pulse stay calm!" Mugman did not stay calm. "WE'RE MURDERERS CUPS THE FUZZ ARE GONNA FIND OUT WHAT WE DID AND THEY'RE GONNA THROW US IN THE SLAMMER!"

 

The fur on the little imp was too thick to tell if there was a pulse or not so Cuphead held the devil's chest to his ear as he dangled limply in his grasp "c'mon ol' scratch ya can't just up and die from falling over like a sack of potatoes" "WE'LL HAVE TO LIVE ON THE LAM AND WE'LL NEVER SEE ELDER KETTLE OR ANYONE ELSE ON THE ISLE AGAIN!" Cuphead breathed a sigh of relief as he heard a faint but steady heartbeat "WE DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO HIDE A BODY!" "MUGMAN THE DEVIL'S NOT DEAD" the devil coughed for a bit but didn't wake up "see? not dead"

 

but on putting satan down Cuphead saw his gloves were stained dark red. "But he definitely needs a doctor, or a first aid kit" "Cups, do you think there's a first aid kit anywhere in hell? or at least the casino" "should we ask around? the devil did say we own the place now." Cuphead slung the devil's left arm around his shoulder and tried to support him "help me get his right side up he's actually a lot heavier then he looks."


	4. There's an evil stick of evilness and Good job Mugman you scared the casino

Another hour, another rumor-spreading imp telling king dice about everything he didn't hear, well, not everything as when Mugman had panicked over murdering the devil over something as silly as pulling his tail, the imp who had spied on them didn't see that the devil's "death" was simply him falling on his face and the nasty little spy got so scared that it flew off at once to find king dice in hopes of protection from the two "villainous" cup brothers.

 

Naturally, king dice laughed in the imp's face and told him he was spouting a load of hooey. The cup brothers could pack a punch and give a wallop but they were no cold blooded killers, but it didn't get rid of a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something fishy was going on. Especially with his boss' trident walking around like it had a mind of it's own. Wait what? No Dice wasn't seeing things, the trident had seemed to have sprouted legs and was walking around on it's own. Well that can't be a good sign.

 

Cuphead discovered that finding a first aid kit, or someone who knew where one was, was far easier said then done. It didn't help that the casino was thrown into a lot more chaos then it usually was. There was the expected drunks, shady guests, sore losers with violent tendencies, but on top of all of it, there was a panic spreading throughout the casino regarding the supposed murder of the devil. although the casino workers and the gamblers probably didn't think that the shrunken demon in the brothers' grip was the devil, it didn't help that he looked like a corpse.

 

"OY! YE TEEW LIL' MOOGS COUDN'T STOP AT THE BOSS' DETH A'N WEN' 'N KILLED A FLUFIE LIL' IMP CAUZ YEW COUD?" the drunken demon bellowed at the brothers while raising the said "fluffy lil' imp" up to his face for a closer look. "He's not dead you dolt! We just need to get a first aid kit! Where is it?" "LEWKS AFFEL LIKE THE BOSS 'IMSELF.." the demon scratched his face with his claws in thought before gasping in realization "YA.. MOOGS KILLED THE BOSS' KIDDO TEEW?!" the demon sloppily blubbered through surprisingly teary eyes. "NO. WE. DIDN'T!" "Does the devil even have a kid?" the demon didn't answer as he dropped the devil and started bawling his eyes out as he ran away.

 

Thankfully Mugman caught him before he hit the floor but before the brothers could explain the large demon ran away crying. "Cups, do you think the next guy will know where a first aid kit is? or at least some bandages" "At this point Mugs, we're better off leaving the darn casino and taking him with us" Mugman had tried to ask a few more people on the way out (better safe then sorry) but basically, everyone the cup bros talked to was too drunk, scared, not willing to help "without a payment", or was just plain too stupid and or unreasonable to be of any sort of help.

 

As the two left the casino, and asked the nearest shop for some bandages they couldn't shake off the eerie feeling that something terrible was going to happen and that someone or something was watching them. Maybe that stupid rumor in the casino made them a new enemy. But for now the cup bros brushed off their paranoia for something that would take every bit of their focus: finding out how to bandage someone with dark fur which makes spotting injuries an issue.


	5. shouting matches attract evil and five chapters in we finally get a proper antagonist

There was a lot of things the devil expected once he woke up: angry gamblers out for blood, panicked and or confused employees/henchmen, a minimum of twelve broken things that should not be broken (material things and or people's bones), too many stolen goods to properly track, and the sound of someone screaming in pain from punching a slot machine too hard. If that was the case, it would've been just another Tuesday to him. Heck, perhaps the cup brothers' faustian rebellion could've been chalked up to a bad dream brought on by a particularity strong drink.

 

However, there was no smell of smoke or various alcoholic drinks, not a gambler or imp in sight, and no sounds of the usual shady casino chaos. When he cracked his eyes open what was there instead was the setting sun over Inkwell Isle, and two voices that were becoming annoyingly familiar. "Cuphead for the last time we aren't shaving the devil! Do you really want him more naked then he already is?" "it was already hard managing to bandage him during the day! when night falls it'll be impossible."

 

Okay, that was the last straw. Every moment with these two since his defeat had been nothing but humiliation after humiliation. He thought nothing could be worse then being at the brats' mercy but now they were debating shaving off his fur? When they unlikely knew how to use a razor themselves? He couldn't allow them to have that. "LISTEN UP YOU PORCELAIN PUNKS, BLOOD OR NO BLOOD THERE'S NO CHANCE IN HELL I'M LETTING YOU NEAR ME WITH THAT RUSTY HUNK OF JUNK" His face was bright red with anger and embarrassment.

 

Mugman was annoyed at the devil's rude statement but pleasantly surprised he was up and moving again. "Devil you're awake!" "DON'T YOU 'dewul ur awake!' ME IF YOU TWO DIDN'T SHOW UP AT MY CASINO I WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!" the devil yelled as he stamped his foot on the ground. Mugman knew in hindsight, he should've seen a reaction like this coming but it still hurt. Cuphead didn't take kindly to it. "OH SCURRY BACK TO YOUR PRECIOUS CASINO YOU LITTLE IMP I'D THINK YOU'D KNOW HOW TO ACT YOUR AGE BUT YOU CLEARLY CAN'T!"

 

The devil looked offended "IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED..." he gestured to his own body "I AM ACTING MY AGE!" "NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE ACTING MORE LIKE A BABY!" the two of them tried to stare each other down as their argument derailed into shouting petty insults at each other. "HAIRBALL-BREATH!" "GOOSE-BRAIN!" "CRYBABY!" "FRIED EGG-FACED VOMIT DRINKER!" "HYPOCRITICAL CHICKEN-HEARTED FLEABAG!" "I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN HEAD!" while the two of them were boiling over (heh) Mugman felt that something terrible was lurking just out of sight.

 

"YOUR MOTHER GOES TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY!" "Guys..." "YOURS DID TOO UNTIL I SLEPT WITH HER!" "GUYS!" Mugman put himself between the bickering duo and put his hands over their mouths "I know today's been hell on everyone here but-" *CLANG* Whatever sort of overly optimistic 'teamwork' speech Mugman was going to throw together to keep the devil and Cuphead from ripping each other's throats out was interrupted by the devil's trident piercing the ground between the brothers. It towered over everyone and looked like it was made of molten gold and pure malice.

 

"Lllaaasssssttt cccchhhhhaaaaannnnncccceee" the trident hissed. "I-it's a-alive?!" Cuphead stuttered but no one answered him. the devil looked even smaller then he did before as he hid behind Cuphead shaking in fear. "CHOOSE YOURSELVES FOR ME!" the trident roared. "WHO WILL BE CROWNED KING?" "W-well neither me or my brother really want to go rule hell so the devil will?" Cuphead reasoned as he tried to nudge the devil forward "UNIMPORTANT! HE IS WEAK! and truly pathetic" the devil hung his head down in shame as his former trident continued to hiss insecurities in his ear.

 

"But you brothers are not like this weakling, you two are strong, but there can only be one king of demons, and all the power to come with the throne." "We don't want your darn power!" Mugman boldly retorted to the trident. "we just want to go home!" "fine!" the trident spat "I will choose a king myself" it seemed to pull itself out of the ground while the devil grabbed Cuphead and Mugman by their wrists and the three ran into the nearest woods as fast as their legs could carry them.


	6. In the woods, but out of luck.

Running into the woods when it's getting dark is something Mugman was scolded for before and tried to avoid doing ever since then. While that was an important rule to follow as who knows how lost you'd get when it got too dark to see the hand in front of your face, It was a rule that left him without knowledge on what to do when lost deep in the woods in the dark of night. Or what to do when being chased by a thing of pure evil in those dark woods.

 

Although he and Cuphead tried shooting at the trident to stall it or make it fly off it's course it still stayed a mere few inches away from piercing one of their backs. "QUIT WAISTING BULLETS! YOU MORONS ARE ONLY MAKING IT ANGRIER!" the Devil shouted as he tugged harder on their wrists in hopes on getting the brothers to focus on running. While Mugman listened (but mostly because he didn't like looking at the trident) while Cuphead kept shooting away, making the devil "forget" to warn him of a tree branch that smacked Cuphead on the back of his head.

 

Cuphead retaliated by giving the devil a pea-shot to the back of his head and blamed a fallen acorn. The last thing Mugman needed was another fight between this brother and the devil, especially with the burning trident swiftly and greedily inching closer and closer. "ENOUGH OF IT YOU TWO! THIS BICKERING'S GONNA GET US ALL KIL-" as Mugman couldn't see at all in the dark he had tripped over a rock.

 

"MUGMAN!" both Cuphead and the devil shouted as they rushed to Mugman's side. The trident had seen the opportunity to strike Cuphead in the back but the devil, thinking on his feet grabbed a branch and swung it as hard as he could at the relentless pitchfork of demonic power. He looked surprised as it was knocked back and got stuck in a tree. "WHO'S PATHETIC NOW, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A METAL TWIG!" the Devil then began to beat the ends of the trident down, making it harder for it to pull itself out of the tree.

 

From Cuphead's perspective because he couldn't see a darned thing it seemed like the devil somehow smacked the trident into a tree and was now taunting it while the trident was breaking itself loose. Not wanting to waste a second of precious escape time Cuphead took Mugman and ran like the ground behind them was catching fire, leaving the devil behind with the trident.

 

Luckily for the Devil he did see Cuphead running off "H-HEY! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME BEHIND WITH THAT THING!" he yelled as he chased after the brothers. While the company of the cup bros certainly made him wish he was alone he knew what happened to people that the trident didn't deem 'worthy' and then made it angry. That fate was a special type of hell that even he feared, especially now that his body was now made of soft mortal flesh.


	7. where spooky scary skeletons swipe satan.

Losing the only person in your group who could see in the dark makes you a lot more lost then you ever intended to be. Cuphead didn't even intend to lose the devil, while he had been bickering with the cat-like demon child since he lost his age the idea of leaving him to fend for himself left Cuphead with a sour taste of uneasiness and concern in his mouth. However even with his conscience yelling at him to look for the devil, it was also telling him to get Mugman to safety.

 

And the devil be darned, it's far easier to bring someone you're carrying to safety then it is to look for a black-furred small child in the dark woods at night. It also doesn't help that near the said child, is probably a giant living weapon bent on bringing you or your brother to the depths of hell. "There's gotta be somewhere safe up ahead" Cuphead said to himself and the knocked-out Mugman. "Devil couldn't be too far off, I'm sure we'll find him soon."

 

Meanwhile, in a slightly far off part of the woods the devil was running about wildly searching for anything that could even somewhat lead him back to the cup brothers. While he would've called out for them, attracting the attention of the trident would seal his fate. So he kept his search as silent as he could as he looked for footprints and or any other evidence of anyone being around.

 

His ears perked up on the sound of something rattling and voices of familiar people. "I heard ol' Brineybeard's still sailing the seas, maybe he could use a skeleton crew!" "dang it Ulna, our boss could've bought the farm and you're telling jokes?!" "Patella has a point, there's no bones about our boss's loss." "yeah, King Dice could get real bonely without the boss..." the devil recognized them immediately those three skeletons worked for him and it sounded like they were at least loyal enough not to kill him immediately "Hey! I'm not dead!" 

 

Grabbing the attention of the skeletons, Ulna picked the devil up by the scruff of his neck to get a better look at him "D'AAWW! aren't you just the cutest little thing?" the devil squirmed and kicked in her grip "I'M YOUR BOSS PUT ME DOWN!" the devil shouted at the pun-happy skeleton. "Clavicle, Patella look what I found" she cheerfully sang as she held the devil to her chest like a stuffed animal. She beamed with joy as she showed the little angry demon to her siblings. "Isn't he adorable?"

 

Part of the devil wished he'd never left the cup brothers as although it was humiliating to be at their mercy, they had never cooed over how 'cute' he became. His face burned with embarrassment as he crossed his arms and pouted. "heh, the kid has a sense of humor, claiming to be our boss like that, glad some of us can still smile." "How did a child end up in these woods alone? especially this deep in" Patella asked herself as she tapped her skull in thought.

 

"You okay kiddo?" Clavicle asked with concern "ya look like you went through hell" the devil realized much too late that going to skeletons for help was a bad idea, especially because they were numbskulls. "yes, I'm fine, now TELL THIS BONEHEAD TO LET ME GO!" Clavicle kept asking more questions to the 'lost little kitten', "where are your parents?" "never had any in the first place." "anybody looking out for ya?" "no I-" Satan was interrupted by Ulna gasping dramatically "YOU DON'T HAVE ANYBODY?!" her eye sockets filled with tears as she squeezed the devil uncomfortably tight in her boney arms.

 

"THEN WE'LL TAKE YOU IN!" "too..tight..can't...breathe" "Ulna! we don't even know how to raise a child!" "yes but we can learn! and we can't leave him out here like this! who knows what'll get him!" "Well you're both right so here's the compromise: we bring him to our house for the night and decide what to do in the morning" "Don't I get a say in this?" The Devil's question went unanswered by voices but answered in how they acted: no he did not get a say in his fate and being a child sucked.

 

Back with the cup brothers after what was three long and eerie hours of wandering through the woods, Cuphead didn't find the devil but managed to find an old but sturdy cabin in the woods. He would've missed it had he not walked head first into it's front porch. "Hey! anybody Home?" he stated loud enough so anyone in the house could hear, but hopefully not too loud to attract the unwanted trident. After no answer from inside the house, he knocked on the door. After still no answer from the house Cuphead tried the door. It had opened without a problem but it had let out a terrible creaking sound. "Well, I guess we're staying here for the night" Cuphead said to no-one listening as he brought his brother inside the empty house.


	8. haunt-it-yourself house! true fear not included.

The inside of the cabin was cozy but it had sent a shiver down our unwelcome guest's spine, the wooden floors creaked loudly with every step Cuphead took. The walls had dark green wall paper that looked to be peeling off. The furniture looked like a bunch of carpenters decided to carve it all out of coffins while still making it look as much like coffins as these carpenters could. Dark purple rugs with bone patterns on them were in every room of the house aside from the single red rug in the living room which instead had two snakes circling each other.

 

All sources of light came from tall pale candles that all looked like they were going to flicker out at any moment. Not wanting to be left in the dark Cuphead played Mugman down on the coffin-couch as he searched for matches. As he searched he the cabin he saw many pictures of the cabin's owners: four skeletons. One of them looked familiar to him but he couldn't quite place how he knew this skeleton.

 

Meanwhile on the couch Mugman stirred awake and promptly got off the couch. "How did I even get here?" Mugman wondered to himself out loud. He knew that the last thing he saw before being knocked out was the trident. Assuming the worst he loudly called out for his brother and the devil while sprinting through the cabin. Back with Cuphead, the cabin echoed his brother's calling but the creaking of the cabin with the howling of the wind that was picking up made the echo sound like the devil's trident was calling for him.

 

Gripped with fear, Cuphead ran as fast as he could to the couch where he left Mugman only to find that he wasn't there. All of the worst case scenarios poured themselves into Cuphead's mind. To him the trident found the cabin, murdered Mugman in cold blood, and was now looking for him so it could drag him to hell. He bolted to the door but it seemed to lock itself from the inside as the doorknob couldn't even budge. Naturally he ran frantically through the cabin looking for another door.

 

Back with Mugman, sudden loud footsteps, the sound of something banging on the walls, companied by the fact that he was already uneasy from suddenly waking up in what looked like a stereotypical haunted house sent in into a state of a full-blown alarm and broke from a sprint to a wild run. The two brothers unintentionally terrified each other until they crashed into each other face first. While the two brothers would've happily embraced each other after learning that they are in fact not killed by a mad demonic pitchfork they had unfortunately awakened the mistress of the cabin.

 

The door on the left slammed open as a skeleton in a floral nightgown grabbed the cup brothers by the collars of their shirts "WHAT ON EARTH MAKES YOU PUNKS THINK YOU CAN RUN AROUND OUR HOUSE HOLLERING YOUR HEADS OFF AT THIS LATE AT NIGHT?!" "WHERE IS THIS PLACE?! WHAT IS THIS PLACE!? WHO ARE YOU?!" "I'M SORRY! I THOUGHT THIS CABIN WAS EMPTY!"

 

Meanwhile back with the devil and the rest of the skeleton crew. "I know Patella wasn't very welcoming but don't worry! she's just sternum! I'm sure you'll grow on her, I can feel it in my bones!" the devil let out what was likely the thousandth loud annoyed groan after the thousandth terrible bone pun. He knew that Ulna had her heart set on being a comedian at the casino but this was exactly why he never gave her that job: she only knew terrible skeleton puns that lost all their humor years ago. "Uh, don't worry little guy, our home's not too long off. We'll be there soon!" Clavicle remarked reassuringly. At this point he hoped Clavicle was right, he's already sat through over two hours of the same terrible puns repeated like a broken record.


	9. Clavicle the peacekeeper and the more-bitter-then-sweet reunion.

In the house the two brothers were on the living room couch being scolded by the mistress of the house "AND THE NERVE YOU TWO HAD TO MAKE A MESS OF OUR NICE WOOD FLOORS, UNBELIEVABLE! IF I, MISS MAXILLA WAS A WOMAN OF LESSER KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO GO IN THESE WOODS ALONE AND THE BEASTS IN THESE WOODS, I'D THROW YOU OUT THIS SECOND!" Mugman was listening to her rant confused but feeling very guilty about what happened while guilt crushed Cuphead like fifty-nine steamrollers piled on top of his chest.

 

Cuphead knew that the Devil was somewhere alone in those woods but didn't know if he would even survive anymore. Maxilla's scolding only made it worse as now Cuphead's imagination showed him several scenarios where the Devil died horribly at the hands of wild beasts, or bandits that lived in the woods, or even some of the demons who probably had a grudge against the devil for some reason. Maxilla had not sparred any gory details on fully explaining what types of horrors lay in the woods and when by the time she seemed to start wrapping up Cuphead was overflowing with worry.

 

By the time it looked like Cuphead was about to crack, the front door swung wide open as an overly joyful voice filled the room "MAXILLA, LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!" followed by a much more sour and angry voice that Cuphead had never felt more relived to hear in his life "OH COME ON! YOU TWO WERE IN THIS DUMP THE WHOLE TIME!?" "DEVIL! WHERE ON EARTH WHERE YOU?!" "oh! and who are you two?" "ULNA! WHY ON EARTH DID YOU BRING THIS TRASH TO OUR HOUSE!" the devil struggled in Ulna's grip "HEY! WHO ARE YOU CALLING TRASH YOU OLD HAG!?" "Okay, Ulna I think it's time to put the kid down..."

 

Ulna reluctantly set the devil on the floor "about time" he muttered as he dusted off his fur. Then Cuphead crushed him in a tight hug "DEVIL I WAS SO WORRI-" "CAN IT, CUPFACE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INSANELY ANNOYING THESE BONEHEADS ARE?! AND GET YOUR GRIMEY PAWS OFFA ME!" Clavicle didn't enjoy fighting outside of his workplace (or inside it but he could tolerate it a lot more there) and tried to ease the tension through smalltalk "oh, so you three all know each other?" "..regrettably, yes" "...what on earth happened when I was out?" "honestly kiddo, I should be asking that."

 

Then as Ulna saw the cup brothers on the couch she screamed bloody murder. "Y-YOU TWO ARE THE MUGS THAT KILLED THE BOSS!" "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT TO YOU NUMBSKULLS?! I. AM. NOT. DEAD!" "ARE YOU HERE TO KILL US ALL TOO?!" "DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT OUR BOSS WITH YOUR NONSENSE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Patella couldn't take any more of this "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she smashed a candle-lit lamp on the floor.

 

After a long and tense moment of silence, Clavicle cleared his throat "okay, uh, I know things aren't looking up right now and it seems nobody knows whats going on.. so while we all sort this out I'm gonna make dinner! any requests?" Ulna's usual amount of excitement returned Immediately "OH! OH! PICK ME! PICK ME!" she hollered, shook her hand above her head, and jumped up and down like a school girl who wanted a teacher to call on her.

 

Patella lowered her sister's hand and gestured to the cup brothers and the devil. "perhaps we should let our little guests have a say in this" The Devil rolled his eyes and crossed his arms "oh, so now I get a say in my fate," he grumbled angrily, earning him a sharp elbow to his ribs from Mugman "don't be rude!" he sharply whispered in the devil's ear. "well, I missed you too Mugface" he whispered back sarcastically.


	10. Demons don't make good rugs and skeletons don't make good hosts

While Clavicle was cooking the dinner which received the most votes (lasagna and garlic bread) The cup bros and the devil were currently scrubbing frantic footprints off of the cabin floors while Maxilla kept a vulture's watch on them " **Don't think for a second that we'll let you hooligans trash our lovely house and let you on your merry way if these floors aren't completely spotless by the time Clavicle get's done cooking you won't eat a single bite!** " "and why am I roped into doing their work again?" Cleaning floors was a common man's work and Satan was no common man.

 

Maxilla's eye sockets narrowed "This is as **much** of your job as it is those other two because it's obvious that your separation from them is what probably caused all this nonsense  _now get back to work before I make a bathroom rug out of your hide_ " the devil clutched his chest with both hands and looked at his fur "I don't think I'd make a good rug" Ulna overheard the threats and was filled with rage. "MAXILLA! IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT GUESTS? OR _CHILDREN_ FOR THAT MATTER?!"

 

Maxilla gestured to the brothers "Didn't you accuse the dirty dishes of murder?" Cuphead bit back a comeback to the cranky skeleton's insult as he didn't want her to hate him any more then she already did. "Well, yes but I'm sure they had their reasons, they aren't actively trying to kill us,  _and I wasn't threatening to kill them!_ " Patella put herself between her squabbling sisters, "Maxilla, Ulna, with your near-opposite views of our guests I think it's best to give them some space, I'll keep and eye on them while you two prepare the guest room."

 

Neither of the two sisters seemed happy with Patella's order but they left, leaving the trio alone with the usually calm skeletal casino dealer. "I'm sorry about Maxilla and Ulna, as you three can tell, we're not used to having guests." it seemed Patella didn't care much for the state of the floor, or it was already to clean to reasonably make a fuss over it either way smalltalk seemed better then chores to the exhausted trio "why are you four living so deep in these woods in the first place? it's an hours long walk from here to anywhere else."

 

"Only when you're lost is it an issue. If you know the woods and are in good light the 'hours walk' is little more then a few minutes" "It also helps to _not leave anyone with night vision behind_ " "you aren't going to let that down are you?" " **No** " "..if you don't mind me asking how on earth did you three end up here this late at night? considering the news I've heard around town you brothers should be out there receiving a hero's welcome. And who's the third kid with you?" "The third kid's the devil and his trident chased us here. It came to life and It's probably trying to kill us or drag us to hell, or both."

 

Patella sat down as she tried to process what Mugman just told her. During her many years working in the casino and in inkwell hell she had seen a lot of bizarre magic from the customers, employees and her bosses but never would've thought a mere child would become so powerful as to claim the throne of hell unintentionally. And part of her didn't want to believe that her boss was now the angry impish child who groaned at every pun her sister made and was now scrubbing the floor.

 

Especially sense that latter part may get her and her family fired from their jobs at the casino. She tried to find words, but didn't even know what to do, "..Boss is it really you?" she felt stupid for asking, her boss was a shapeshifter and he had yelled at her and her siblings that it was him while they were in the woods but she desperately hoped that he was just one of the millions of the imps that worked for the devil that tagged along the cup bros for whatever reason.

 

"Finally one of you got it! I was beginning to think it was all cobwebs and lint up in there." the devil let out a sigh of relief of eventually getting recognized as himself as apposed to some helpless child while Patella's face paled more then what should be possible. She had realized that her sister  _had threatened to kill their boss and turn his skin into a rug._ She didn't know the laws of hell royalty but mentally prayed this didn't count as attempted assassination.


	11. Dinner and a Showdown

In what looked to be the most awkward dinner ever with Ulna and Maxilla glaring at each other from across the table while Patella seemed to be shaking all of her bones and not touching a single noodle or crumb on her plate. Clavicle wasn't the best of hosts either as every time he thought no one was looking, he took a swig from a flask in his breast pocket. What didn't help matters in the slightest was that the Devil kept directing his gaze towards an axe that rested on the mantle next to him and the window behind Clavicle.

 

Not knowing the Devil was wondering why the skeleton family kept an axe in their dining room and in the hopes of distracting him from trying to kill everyone with an axe, Cuphead stole his garlic bread. "HEY!" the Devil saw this crime and immediately swiped the bread off of Cuphead's plate in retaliation. "You didn't even _eat_ your bread, you cherry-nosed knucklehead!" Cuphead took his bread back "won't this stuff kill you though?" Although a part of him did enjoy that the cup brothers seemed to care about him enough to look out for him this was ridiculous.

 

"How did you even get that idea?" he swiped his own bread back "I won't die from some really fancy toast!" he took a bite out of it to prove his point. "isn't it a demon thing? like you can die from holy water and garlic bread?" "Yes Cuphead, I absolutely will die from eating garlic bread. That's exactly why I'm eating it right now, because it will kill me." he deadpanned. Patella snickered and tried to cover it up with her napkin, while Maxilla hissed/muttered "That's vampires, you twits. If you're pretending the fur ball is from the court of hell, at least get it right."

 

The Devil's eyes narrowed. "You're one to talk about pretending when you've played out a soap-opera style romance between Mr. Wheezy and King Dice with yourself playing everyone! By the way it isn't likely to happen, if it did, it wouldn't be because of an apple-tuna casserole, King Dice wouldn't be caught dead in anything less fancy then a dress shirt, and finally the actual Mr. Wheezy's singing voice is terrible." Maxilla's jaw dropped to the floor with a clatter and if she had a heart, it would be caught in her throat. ~~The impish child and freeloader~~ her Boss had smirked as she stared back in silent horror. Both she and the devil were the only people who knew about that.

 

While Maxilla was putting herself back together and stuttering through paper-thin explanations of her behavior Mugman noticed that it looked like there was something about to hit the window. " _LOOK OUT_   _EVERYBODY, DUCK!_ " he shouted while pulling his brother under the table. The Devil lunged for the axe, the skeletons screamed and held each other as the trident crashed through their window, piercing their table and burning it to ashes in the process. The floor near where the trident struck felt alive almost, as it was pulsing and groaning in pain.

 

 

 

"̴̫͇̩̱̯͔͇̘̦͕̈̓̓̔̈́̍̚͢" **G̦̤̞͔̰͙̤̯̪͎͓̺͙͕̈ͣ͐͗ͦ̊̽͋ͪ͒̍ͨͤͫ̈ͩ̐̽͟͞͠ͅͅI̍ͮ̈͜҉̟̮̪̻̪̬̝̕ͅV̴̡̧̪͍͖͓̭̠͇̤͈͉͇̭̳̄̓ͨ͋̾̔͊̚E̪̱̦͈̘͓͚̮͛ͨ͌̓̂͋ͮ͐ͮ͐ͧ̀̚͟͟͠ ̶͈͔̥̩͉̹̺̩̯̰̹̪̙̻͆̆̓ͮͧ͘͜U͇̳̦̩͎̟̍͋͊͛̅̊͝͝S̡̧̼̮̤̭͗͑͑̓̾̾̓̀̾ͮ̒̈́ͦ͆ͭ͋̚͜͢ ̧̧͙̪̦̫͈̑ͥ̍̊̓͂̓̐͟͞T̵̢͖̤̳̤͎̪̣̼͎̥͓̬͈̦̲͒̂͗͐̐̆ͪ͂̇̉̌̍ͤ͛̍ͭ͆͛͞H̽̿̎̊͑ͧ͂̇̋̌̊̑ͧ̈̕͟҉̰͈̲̗̙͎͇̭̞̯̯͘E̩̬͍̜͈̝̲͇̠͈̻͆̔͌̈́͗ͭ̂̎͌̑͗͐̔̾̋̓̈̔́́͠͝ ̴̶̥̭̱̖̘̠̺̜̹͉̏ͥ̅ͧ͒ͤ̔ͣ̐̃ͮ̿̃ͧ̏͆́̚͟ N̸̵̴̥͖͚̲̖̮̫̟̬͔̟̰̓ͬͬ̐̅ͩ̋͂ͭ̑̆͡Eͮ̒̋͛ͥ̈ͦ͌̏͌ͩͤ̾ͯ̋҉͟҉̧͉̜̳̲̘̼̮͕̙̯W̷͔̩̰̟̼̣͇̲͖̟͍̞͋̀͆ͯ̓̂͂̂ͨ̏͒̃́͂̈̄ͬ̐ͤ͡͝͝ ̸̴̨̛̼͚̼͇̲͉͍̞̞̗͉̤̫͙̳͇̠̙ͪ̾̈́̉̈́͊̅͐ͬ̈́ͤ̊́Ḋ̵̢̘̗̭̙̘̼̗͓̯͈̗̩̝̲̤̘͇̂̌ͤ̀̍̈́̊̄ͥͧ͘Ȩ̶̡̻̪͔̜̥͙̘͖̺͉̗̩̖̠̭͋͆̅͐ͪ́̽̐ͯ̓ͣͯ̌͆̆̈́ͮͥ́͡M͗̏ͫ̆̓̈̚̚҉̸̴̶̹͈̩̘͍̼̦͟O̎̾ͣ͐́́ͫͧ͗͑͛ͯ́͒̿̚҉̢̛͏̴͔̗̼͈̺̩̘̦̞̝̟͎̠̟̺̖̳N̵̛̲͖̭̙̟̖̫̞̣͔̪̅̓́̿̐̌̅ͨ̎͌ͮ͘ ̸̶̙͓͔͍̬̥͎̹̮͖͙̮̱̖̲̘͔̳̈́̐̑̏ͧͧͪͩ̓ͯ̈́͑ͮ̋̽̚͜ͅK̵̞̻͍̭̱̗͎̺̺̦͔͎͙̣̹̺͖͇̏͋͆̾̽̓̊͑ͨ́̏́Ḭ̛̲̜͇̳̝̖̳̓̓̔̊̆ͦ̑͑̏̓ͤ̏̍̑̉͟Ñͥͮ̅̓̀̓ͩ͗ͤ́҉͉̻͉̗͍G̸̻̫̗̱̰ͨͤͦ̒͐͛ͮ́͜͝͡!͐̑ͪͩͦ̌̆̾̀͗̇̅͂ͯ̋͆̏̔͛͟͏̡̹̰̝̲̬͕͍̙͕ ͓̫͕̭̳͎͙͉̗̫̭̮͔̥̎͊͐̄̎̍̔͞͞͞͡ͅͅͅT̛̘̫̗͇̳̦͖̥̣̻͎̥̙̉̍ͧ̔͟͠͞H͔̭̗̫͔̗̝̤͇̯̳̼͉͔̩͇ͪ͛ͧ̐̎̀̃ͯͧͪ͌̚͘͞ͅͅE̛̙̙͚͚̘̭̞̯̣̥͐̎̊ͮ̑̏̾͊̾̽̑̄̔́̀̚ ̴̻̱̹̦̳͍̻̲ͧ͋ͨͪ͒̍̃ͤ͌ͪ̅͡͝ͅW̧͉͙̜͕̘͎̣̰̙͕ͫͣ͗͑ͨ̎̉͆̃̇ͪ̿̎̄ͧ̌̕͝͞A̧̢̡̘̣̭ͩͮ̄̒̎̿̍̚͠͡Y̷̨͙̮̻̝̳̭̙̩̺̦͈̳͈̋̒ͮͧ͐̃́ͨ̽͒͊̀͑͌ͥ͒́͜͠S͑̓̾͆ͦ̾͊̂ͣͧͨ͌̆͌̚͠͠͏̵̗̳̦̤͙͔̞̲̲̫̳̝͖̭͍̕ ̼̝͉͓͕͙͇̱͔͖̩̝͚̻̱̙̜̃̅̌̆̓̏ͤ̊͗ͩ̈ͮ̊̈́͛͆͐̕̕͝O̧̯̙̩̼̱̟̩̦͚̤̣̘͕̮̖̣ͣ̓ͪ͒̍ͬ̇̐ͦ͛̄̓͒ͫ̔́̚̕͟F̧̛̹̝͚̮͓̆ͪ̉̀̿ͣ̎̇̒ͥ͊ͨ͝͠ ̨̺̪̞͑ͯ̑̒͊̽̎̋̊̄͐͡M̧͔̘͍̠͇͍̾ͮ̅ͦ̎̆ͨͫͩ͌͒ͯ͋͂̍̀A̧ͯ͌ͯ͂̒ͫ̋̐ͩ̍̎̚̚͏̸͈͙̞͓̹̙̝̮͙̯͈̙̥G̷̢̼̳̞̻̼̹̲̫̬̗̭̹̉̍̆̈́͋͊ͯ́ͭ̾̍Ǐͯ͊̂͏̫̪̬̘͖̫̙͚͍͓̪C̡͓̰̣̞̘͚̖̠̬͆́̓͆ͥͧ ̬̝͖̗̤̱̼̙͔̱͕̝̯̯͚̻̜̜̝͐ͨͧ̍ͤ̑́̂͐̓̑ͭͫ͢W̵͓͎̞̩̞̫̙̲̮̩̤̘͙̓̐̆̄ͨ̃́͂̿̌͗̚͜͞I̸̵̢̝̖̯̙̲̲̬̣̝͔̺̊̅͗̔͊̈́̉͆̂̈́̚͝L̻̲͖̞͎͖̗͙̰͈̱̬͇̭̻̹̲͙̫̇̏ͮ̾̑̑͒͋̓̈͟Lͣ̒͐̌̌ͬͨ̕͏͏̸̭̞̦̳͔̞͖̠̞̭̭̤̦̰ ̶̝̪͇̟̰̮͋ͪ̇̒̓ͣͩ͋͒̋ͮ͟C͊ͭ̑͒̑̋̾ͪ̊ͪ̅̍͒͂ͧ̚͏̷̡̣͕̠͓̱͓̟͔̠̼̙̲͚̺͞͝O̅̏̿̆ͤͦ͒̑̃ͨ̐̿̽̔͏҉̨͎̣̰̤͖̻͚̘̬̗̥͟L̶͉̫̲͔̮͍͒̓̍͝Ĺ̛͖͈͓̦̺̘̮̖͐ͯ̈ͯ͐̿̈ͤ̂̋̃́̏̌̌ͥ͠͞A̴̵̦̯̰̳͚̬̩͔̗̙̯̹̬̗̤̘̻̍́ͬ͛̐̀̈́̀͘͜P̷̦͔̻̖͙̣͇̲̹͙̳̙̠͎͚͔͍͕̏̄͋ͪ̊̐̌̈̈̀͘͜͠S̶̐̉̔͛͗͝͏̶̴̫̦̤͍̳̫͙͕̰̳̗͉̻̻͈͇Ȩ̾̆̈́ͮ̓̈́̓̌̌͝҉̛̹͕̯͖͓̹̮͘ͅͅ ̐̈ͩ̎̀́͏̸̭̯̟̤͓͎͇̱̪̥͚̟̻̩̹̜͔̹̼͜͠W̴̛̠̯̦̹̙̰̗͎̮̪̝̩͚̝͖̍̉̀̔̍ͥ̒́ͬͤͅĮ̺͈̬̝̦̪͔͕͉̦͖̮̐ͧ͂̏̿͂͐͌̑̒͟T͍̙̩̭͖̪̫̗͙͓͉͉͇̙̞̯ͪ̾ͫ͋̊ͬ͋̿̀ͮ̆ͪ͑ͭ͗͑͌͝ͅH̶̿̽̃͞҉̨̝̪̜͇̯̠̙̘͚ͅͅͅO͂ͩ͋̒̀͋ͫ͌͏̦̣̗̗͓̩͈͉̀̀U̟̣̟͓̫̙͂̌͛̾̀̚͟Ṯ̶̷̵̨̢̪̖̮͇̙̣͎̩͎̦͙̖̬͚͓͐ͯ̄̒̿ͧͯͫͥ͗ͥ̽̓ͪ͊̓̆̽̄ ̴͎͓̩̘̲̦̮̰͍̤̟̘ͭ̇ͥ͐̅ͥ͂̿̒ͫ͗͐̿̒ͩ̅ͤ͛͐͟D̸̻̜͕̩̫ͤ͊̀̓͛͛̿̉A͈̞̱̪̱̣̻̭̱͙̿ͦͦ́̎ͣͯ̍̊̄ͬͨͭ̍ͨ̚͢͜͠ͅͅR̷̨̘̳̦̜̪̰̭̪̺͐̈ͨ͛̓̓̊̆̃̂̎́͊̍̉̈͛͡K̓͋̿̈́͒̔̈́̽̍̕͠͠͏̠̻͓̣̘̙̮̹͇͉͈̬N̸̨̡͚̞̥͔̞̲͔̥͍͉̗̤̦̣̬̱̠̹̲͐́͆͑͐̄̚̕͞E̶̠̞̤̯͉ͨ̎ͬ̋͒̋͑͛̄̐̒̏̐ͮ͐̚͘͠S̋̋ͤͫͮ̎̑̿ͩͮͯ̊͂̚҉̸̵̶̝̪̻̻̤̝̠͟S̨͍̮̲̹̲͉̖͙͎̯̹͕͇̬̩̋̽̒̀̍͒ͫ̎͞ ̨̢͉͖̯̮̦̩͕͙̅ͩ̓ͧͥ͐̌́̃ͩͦ̾̂́ͥ̆̎͟͡T̢̧̰͖̘͎̲̻͉̯͓͒́͆̆̔͘͝O̞̯͍̱̭̥̦͗̑̇̏͗ͧͧ̈ͦͭ̅̅̉̌̍͒́̚͠ ̶̹͍̙͔͈̰͚͖̥̗̹̟̦͕͚͒̊ͮ̏̂̾ͤ̔ͭ́͌̓ͧ̀B̴̨̟̤͈̞̙̮̪͚̖̗̱̙͍̼͕̟̪͔̉͋͂ͯ̒̃̽͋̈͆̂́̅ͨͤ̚̚̕̕͝ͅẢ̴̛̛̺͓̗̦͗̐ͩ͒̀L̸͕̠̦̖͇̜̱̥͚̹̘͍̗̳͈̥̝ͫ̄͛̅̕͜͝ͅA̴̧̨̛͍͇̤̤̞̲͉̟͕̤̬̮̞̣̙̗͍̿͑̅̂̇ͮ̄̓ͯ̌ͬ͂̓̈́̊͂̍̀ͅN̨̰̤͈̮̪͖̜̈̍͗̽͛͆͒̐͑̽̿̿̈́̒̔̽ͯ͗́̕Ć̡̐̈̉͛̽́̕͝҉̝̼̲̙̜E ̵̹͎̭̝̝̱͍̱͓͕͎̟̦̫̭̘̏̌́ͬ̄̅ͯ̊͊̒ͥ̍̚̚͢͞ͅOUT T̨͉̬͈̝̟̣̬ͩ̾͌̂͗̇̎͋͑̋ͣ͋̿ͩ̉H̡̫͈̯̯̫̏̒̐͊͝͝Ḝ̘̟̜̤͙͛̓̽̈̽ͫͩͧ͋͂ͪ̚͞ ̸̛͖͚̘͓͌̓͛̔̍̇͆͛͌͋́̽ͦ̎̌̅̚ L̷̲̞̯̠̪̒ͩͧ͟͠I͒͆ͤ̎̍ͥ̔̆̾̂ͤͪͯ́͠͏̢͕̝̹̲̖͔̙G̸̢̞̠̗̼͎̺ͤͭ̇ͩ̈́ͤ̊ͩ͢͡H̸̴̍ͮ̊͑ͥ̀́ͨ͆̎̀̀͡͏̖͙͎̩́Ţ̇ͬ͑̈́̂̄ͧͫ̄̉ͭ̒ͩ҉͖̥̞̲̣̘̥̰̤͕̲͔!̢̮̱͍̳̮̭͈̟̬̜͚͖̦ͣͬ̿͑̍̔ͫ͌̓͂̾̎̽́̔͛́̚̚"̴̴̙̦̗̬̙̬ͯ͒̍̏̀͆̋̂̐̃͐͋ͥ̚̕ͅ"**

 

The trident was dripping itself on the floor like a giant candle of evil as everybody all ran screaming away from the thing only to discover all doors and windows previously in the house that could lead outside had disappeared into the unforgiving walls of the cabin. Patella and Maxilla were now begging the devil for forgiveness in the faint hope he'd call off the trident but sadly it was too far out of his power now. Cuphead and Mugman were terrified but still readied their finger guns. Realistically the Axe would've burn to ash should the Devil strike the trident with it but he held it defensively as any weapon would be better then weaponless.

 

"W̡Ḩ̸̛O̢̨̕͜͝Ẁ͜͡Ì̷́͡L̀͏̵L̷̷͝͝B̛҉̵͜Ę͟͜K͏̴̕Í̴͞Ņ͘͘͝G̀͡͝?̡̡͠W̕͡͏҉H͢͏͏Ơ̸̧͞W̨͝͏Í̴̷͢͠L͘͘͞͝L҉͘B̷҉E͟҉̀͝Ḱ̢̡͠͝I҉̡̕̕N̵̸̢͘͢G҉̨̛͘?̡͜W̶̧̡͢͝H̀͜O̵̵̡͝Ẁ̴͘͜͠I̕͢͟͠L̴̴̨͟͠L̷̛B͜E̷̛͡K҉͏I̵̸N̶̛͞G̴̵?̵̕W͏́̀͠H̴̛̀͝͝O͢͝ ̧̀͢͜Ẁ͜͠I͝L҉́͘͟L̡͝͡B̀͡҉E̸̸͜Ḱ̶̶͜Į̢̡͘͟N̷̨͢͢͜G̨͢͜͞͝?̶͡Ẃ̵̛͜Ḩ̷͢͞O͏҉W͘͠҉͘͞I҉́́͟L̴͠L̸̵͡B̡̀͢E̡͘͟͠Ḱ̡̢̧͝I͏̵̢N͘͢G̸̸̛͞?̧̀͘W̡̡̧͝H̷́͞͡Ơ̢͞͠W̸̕͟͜͞I̶̡L̵̡͞L͢B̡̛͘͢E̶̶̴͠K̀͘I͏̡́͘N̢͏͘Ǵ͢?̸͢W̧̧̕͟͠H̨͞O̕͟͜͞W̶͟͞I̸̡͜͞Ļ̷̡͘L̶̸B͏̕҉͟͜E̢̕͟K̶͏͏͜I̷̴͝͡͝N͟Ģ̷?̷̕͜W̷H̵̡̢̕͏O̶̢̧̕Ẃ̡҉Į̴̵̸͜L̨͘҉̡҉L͏̛͜͜͢B͏͞͝҉Ȩ̛̀͜K̡͘͡I̴͟N̷͜͜G̀͏?̵͢W̷̢H͏̷̧͏O̶̶͠ ̷̀̀͢W̸͏͟҉I̛͘͢͠L̴͞Ļ̡͏̧̢B̧̀̀͜ĘḰ̶̵͜I̴͠͏N̸̢̧G͠?̷̕͡W̡͢H̛͘O̡͞Ẁ́͏I̷̵̷͘͢L̸̨͘͢͠L͞͏B̶͘E̡̡K̴͜͏̨̕I̛҉̴͘͠N͘Ģ̵̶?̕̕͠W̶͡H̸͟O͜͡͠W̴̷̷̸͠Ì̵̵͡͞L̛͜͠L͝͝B҉̴̵E͏̶̀Ķ͜͞I̶̵҉N̢̛҉̸G̷̡̡͢͠?̸̢̛͟W̸͞H͞͡͝͝Ǫ͏̶͘͘W̵̛͠Į҉̵̡͠Ĺ͏͟L̢̡̡̕͝B͘͡È͏̸K̷̡͢I̧͠N̢̕G̕͘?̡͟͜͠W̧͏H̕͞͝Ó́̕͜͠W̵͡Í̸͠L҉̶͢L̡͟͏̛́B̧͠҉̸E̸͘͝͞K͟͞͞I̴̕͠N͡G̀͜?̴̴W͘͞Ḩ̶̷O̸̧̕͝ ̶͘̕͞W̨͏I̕͟L͘͞L̵̀̀B̴́͡E͢͡K͢I͞N͡͞͝G̶͟͞͞҉?̀͏҉̧͜W̛͡H̵̶̕O͠҉W̷͠͏̷I̢͏́́L̡̢͠͞Ļ̸B̶̨̡́E̴̛̕K̡͠I͝͠N̡͏̀͏G̵̷̨͟?͏W͏͝H̨̡̀͝Ó̡Ẃ̶̨͜͡I̧L̶͜L̴̡B̵͠͠Ę̨̧̀̕K̸͘͢͡Í͟͠͡҉Ņ̴̛́͢G̡?̸̡̀W̡̛͘͝҉H̶̛́͘O̷͢W̷̷̧̨͜I̴̶̧͞L҉̨Ļ̶͢͝B̕͝͠E͢͡Ḱ͘͜I̧͜͝͡͞Ņ̛͞G̷͘͢?̴͘͢͝W̧͞H͡O̵̷̡W̵͏I̶̛̕͜L̢̧͘͝͞L̴͜͞͠B̵̶̨E͘͘K͜҉̵͡͠I̧҉̀N̷̷̴͜G̨̢͜͝?̴͡W͠͏҉̵͜H̡͘͟O҉̧̡ ̀͟͠͠͞W̸͞I̸̴̡͝L͏͠L̴̢̨͘͠B̶̧͜Ȩ̢͝͡Ķ̷Ì͠N̷̛͜͟G҉͘?̷̀͠͠W͟͠H̷̸̡͘͟O̸̢̢͞W̢͏̴̡͜I̢͞͡L̡L̡̢̛͜B͏́Ę̵͘͘͏K͢҉I̵͘͡͝͞N̴͏̸G̛̛͏̸?̡̕" The trident chanted menacingly as it swung itself at the cup brothers who dodged with ease as at this state it was as clumsy and slow as it was intimidating.

 

The two brothers started firing away at the overgrown melted fork while the devil was chopping the axe into the wall. He knew he'd do more harm then good on the battlefield with the many weakness of his new body and that an escape route was more helpful then any pathetic attempt to beat the trident he could muster. While the brothers started using some of their more powerful attacks on the trident it sprouted twelve grotesquely thin spider-like limbs out of its staff part and started crawling on the ceiling while it dripped molten gold everywhere. The two unlucky cups could've sworn it had eyes now too.

 

The devil took that as a sign to chop faster as there was a significant amount of hole in the wall, it still hadn't been anything anyone could escape from and now the darn hole seemed to be healing itself back into a wall. On the brother's end it was actually much easier then it looked as the darn trident was about to give up. But then Clavicle had grabbed Cuphead and held him up to the Trident, holding his hands firmly behind his back to keep him from shooting. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WE'RE GONNA BEAT THIS GUY!" Mugman shouted as Clavicle ignored him. Cuphead Cringed and screamed in pain as part of the trident fell on his face and melted.

 

"T-TAKE YOUR KING JUST PLEASE LET US BE!" the cowardly traitor offered to the force of dark magic. The Trident seemed more then happy to slowly creep up to the new king, a collection of newly made eyes staring down the trident's prize. The Devil turned away from the hole and swung the axe at Clavicle's knees. The skeleton's legs fell apart as Cuphead was now free from Clavicle's grip. But there wasn't a second to waste as the trident had howled with rage as it kept getting struck by the blasts of the two when Cuphead re-entered the fray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter took so long, the computer kept freezing up while I was writing this.


	12. An intermission with Elder Kettle

The poor old Kettle had been sick with worry and pacing the living room from evening to well past midnight. He hadn't seen or heard any sign that his boys made it out all right and feared that either Cuphead could've given the fiend the contracts, or worse: the Devil struck them down and started using their corpses as new dishes. He had received less then uplifting phone calls from the residents of Isle III claiming that a dead child was seen being dragged around in the casino, something with fur was spotting taking children into the woods, and the most horrible thing he's heard all night: someone went into the woods following their footprints and found nothing but signs of a struggle and demon-like paw prints leading away.

 

He mentally scolded himself for not making the potion lethal against demons, but at the end of the day he knew that what would happen if the current demon king was killed.

 

Elder Kettle had already lost one of the closest friends he ever had to that fate and to have one of his charges lost to such a gruesome outcome would be something he could never live with. Thankfully The telephone rang, pulling him out of his thoughts. He picked it up wondering who would call at such an odd hour and almost instantly regretted it as the terrified lady on the other line was screaming her head off about walls, garlic bread, children and eternal damnation. Even when he held the phone an arm's length away from his ear the woman was still shrill and loud enough to be heard from a mountaintop.

 

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON ANYMORE" Although it was rude to call so late at night, Elder Kettle did wonder if he could do anything to calm the phone lady's hysteria. "Ma'am would you please calm down? Whatever is bothering you I'm sure can be worked out-" "BUT THE WINDOWS ARE MISSING! A-AND NOT JUST THE SILLS OR THE FRAME, **THE HOLES IN MY HOUSE THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE ARE GONE!**  I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" 'Perhaps this lady poured herself a cup of bad moonshine tonight' Elder Kettle thought to himself. "Well, maybe if you lie down for a while the windows will be back in the morning?"

 

"BUT THE DEVIL'S TRIDENT TOOK THE WINDOWS, AND DOORS TOO! THE FLOORS FEEL LIKE JELLY _I_ _'m at a loss on what to do, i mean i'm worried that your kids could hurt themselves badly-"_  "Wait! my kids are there!?" Kettle felt a spark of hope flare up as when the lady started talking instead of screeching he did hear finger-snapping in the background and what sound like Cuphead swearing. But he also felt a pit of dread in his stomach. "What on earth is going on over there? and why are my boys in your house?"

 

"Oh. well-" " **A̕A̕҉A̸͝A͏̨À̴͡͠Àà̵̵́̕a̛̛͘͜a̸̸̡͘͠ą҉̴̴ą̕͟͜A̡̛̕͠͝A̡͞͞͡A̴͟͟͡͠Á͞͏͝A̶̵̧̛͟Ŗ̵͜r͟͝͠r̴̛̕͏R̵̷̀́R̸̛R̶͘͜ŕ́͞r̡G̵G̶̷̶G̵͏͡҉̧Ǵ̸̢̡g҉̕͘͜g҉͝g͜͡g͏̴͞G͏̴̕͡ģ҉̨̨̕G̷̷̵ģ̵͘͡H̴͟H̴̶̡͘H͏̷̷̧͠h̕h̶̡̧̀͠H̷̵̶̡!͘!̸̡!͠** " she was interrupted by a deafening howl by what he had assumed was some sort of eldritch horror and the sound of something large and metal landing on the floor. "Well, now they're okay, I guess?" while Elder Kettle rarely raised his voice in his old age, this felt like an appropriate time to do so. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I GUESS'?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF INKWELL HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE?!" his nose let out an angry steamed whistle as he yelled into the phone.

 

New voices were now heard in the background, one of another woman "Ulna! the phone still works? _Why didn't you tell anyone?!_ ", one of a child Elder Kettle didn't recognize. "YOU BRAINLESS BONE-BAGS HAD A WORKING PHONE THIS WHOLE TIME?! AND NOBODY THOUGHT TO USE IT!?" the eldritch thing started talking again "T̴̷̢̧҉H̕͜͢͜E͏̶̴̢ ͘K͡͏̸͟͝Ì̵̛̛͜N̶̸̕͜͝G̸̷̴͠ ͝H͏̢A̛͜S҉̢̧ ̧̀͞B͠͏̶̀͠E̸̶̛͜E̷̛͝Ń̵̢͜ ̷̨̀́͜C̷̀͢͟H̨҉̸̀̕O͟͏͜S̴E̵̢͝N̨̢̡͝!̡̛̕ ̨̡͠A̷̴̕͡͠L͢͝͡͝L̸͞ ̧̛͞W̵̕I̸̧̛͝L̛͏͜҉L̴̶̕͟͟ ̵̧̡̀͠H̶͠A̢͝I̴̡̧L̀ ̵͘T̶̶̡̀͝H̷҉͢E̴͏ ̨͡N̶̢҉̶̢E͘͏͏W̷̛ ̴̢K͟I̧̢͘N̸̸̢̧͡G̶͘!͏҉ ̵̀͟A̷͞H̛͝H̛͘̕͜͠H̷̛̛ÀḨ̢̛́̀A̷̴À̡͜H̶͝A̶̶̴̛͠H̴̷̢A̴͡H̴̸͏͝Ą̸̕҉͞H̷́͜͡A͘̕Ḩ͞A̕H͘͞A̴̷̢̢̛H̶́Ą̵̸͘͞H͢͏͜À͘͘H͜H͟͠A͟͟͞҉A̡̡͝͠H̷̕H҉̷͘͜A͡͏̴͘͠H̶̀͘͟͡A͞H͠Á̀H̕҉̵͘̕Ą́͢҉Ą̧̛̕H̵̵̶́͟A̛̕H́͟͝͏A̵͞H́͏À̧̡͠H̛A̷̵Ḩ́A̸̧H̢҉̵A̡̛͟H͜Ą̶͝͡͡H͏҉̢̛͘A͜͠H̨̢̕͢͏H̢҉͏Á͜͜A͟͟͠H̢̧͠͝H̴͘͡A̕͢͢͝͝H̶̛̛̀À͜͟H̨͞A̢͡H̡̀A̧͏H̢̀͜Á̷͝Á͘̕͞͞Ḩ͝͠À̷̷̧̕H̶̴͡͞A̧͟͡H̡̛͞A̸͡H̴̡͜͞A̧͠Ḩ͡҉̸A̧͏͜͢H̕͘͢͠A̴̡̨H̴͟À̀̀͏Ḩ̸͜͠͠A̵͟͝͠H̨̛̀͢͠A̢̡H̡́͢͡A̶͟H͠͏͘A͏͠H̨̡̀́A͡͝H̨́͏H̢A̕͢͞H̸̴̨́A̸҉̸͏H̶̷̛A̶̴̢H͟҉͏À͜͜A̧͟H͜͏̢͞"

 

Elder Kettle froze in horror when he heard the cackling creature's declaration. The worst case scenario that he had tried everything to prevent from happening, _was happening_ , as the phone dropped out of his grip with several people still trying to get his answers, a thousand questions boiled in his mind. The most common of them being "how could I let this happen", "did they really kill the devil?", and "why one of them?"


	13. where everything falls to hell hell instead of inkwell hell.

Had Elder Kettle not dropped the phone he would've gotten a piece of the devil's mind as the former king of hell was currently cursing into the phone upon having found out that the person Ulna had called was the brothers' guardian. However even if the old kettle had stayed on the line the devil was cursing in Irish so he wouldn't have understood him anyway. "Nuair a théann tú chuig ifreann, cuirfidh mé do chorp nimhiúil gach lá go dtí deireadh an domhain leis an bpian a chuirfidh tú ar an oileán ar fad..." "Devil, is Elder Kettle still on the line? Cuphead and I need to talk to him he's probably worried sick about us."

 

The Devil huffed but handed the phone to Mugman anyway, "If the ol' coot didn't hang up already, knock yourself out." then he grabbed the axe and went back to trying to chop a hole out of the now unescapable cabin. Mugman had tried to tell Elder Kettle that both he and Cuphead were okay, (well, as okay as they could be in this situation) but the phone had stayed as silent as the grave. He hung it up in disappointment while the trident was disintegrating into a pile of ashes and flakes of gold on the floor.

 

Clavicle fell to his knees as he had scooped up the ashes of the trident, staring at them in silent horror as the realization of what he had tried to do had not only failed, but now his cowardliness had doomed everyone in the house as he felt the corrupt magic seep into the floors of the cabin, it's dark aura wrapping itself around every nook and cranny it could find. But what really made every bone of his body rattle in fear was the fact the magic seemed to flow not from the remains of the trident like he thought it did but it appeared to be coming from Cuphead.

 

A living house in a place like inkwell was something that wasn't unheard of or too out of the ordinary. The said living house growing eyes, teeth, what appeared to be organs, and arms out of almost every place one could think of was something that could turn a few heads. Or in this case cause some screams as walls of arms covered in teeth had sprouted from out of the floor leaving Ulna and Maxilla trapped on one corner, Mugman, and the Devil trapped cross from them, and Cuphead, Patella and Clavicle trapped across from both parties.

 

"CUPHEAD! ARE YOU OKAY OVER THERE?!" Mugman tried to look at what was happening on the other side of the arms but they moved to block his view with every gap he tried looking though. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! WHAT'S THAT THING BEHIND YOU?!" Mugman and the Devil both turned to see a fleeing shadow. "that's not a good sign" the Devil muttered under his breath. "NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS GOOD!" Maxilla shouted as she stamped her foot on the ground. "WE COULD DIE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLACE! OUR GROUP'S BEEN SEPARATED SO IT CAN PICK US OFF ONE BY ONE!" 

 

The Devil scoffed and brandished his axe, "well whatever "it" is it can't be all that bright and a bag of chips." then, using all the strength in his tiny body, he had brought the axe down on the wall of arms. The arms screamed and thrashed about wildly, although it appeared that the devil made a gap in the arms they grew back faster then he could cut them down. One of the arms then seized him by the throat, and swung him around the room like a toy. Patella and Maxilla would have found it hilarious if it wasn't for the fact that it made them feel helpless against the unseen threat.

 

Mugman shot at the arm while the Devil struggled for air in it's grasp, in a howl of pain the arm threw the devil into a wall. "Okay, maybe whatever's haunting this place, DID think of a few ways to keep us in line." The Devil wheezed out in pain while Mugman helped him back onto his feet. Everybody stepped back from the arm walls, not wanting to be thing next thing to be tossed about by the arms. Ulna knew hope was fading fast in the cabin, and although she'd probably get fired for making jokes at her boss's expense, she had to throw gloom out of the room.

 

"Well, I guess the devil had really put himself in hARM's way with that stunt!" everyone had groaned at the horrible, terrible, pun. Except for the Devil, who really didn't want to re-enter hours-of-terrible-puns-hell "THAT'S IT I'M OUTTA HERE!" He picked up his axe and stormed off "Wait! don't leave the group! haven't you've ever seen a horror movie?!" "Yeah devil, what your doing isn't worth the WRIST!" "I. AM. LEAVING." Knowing that the axe the devil carried did little against the forces of tainted magic, Mugman followed after him.


	14. April Fools

Everyone died in the house and nobody survived. Here's a cake recipe for your troubles

 INGREDIENTS

Vegetable-oil cooking spray  
1/2 cup cocoa powder, plus more for dusting  
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter  
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder  
3/4 cup water  
2 cups sugar

 

2 large eggs  
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk  
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract  
2 cups all-purpose flour  
  


1 teaspoon baking soda  
1/2 teaspoon salt  
Great Value Salt, 26 oz  
In Stores Only  
See Everyday Low Price

Whipped Ganache Frosting  
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped  
3/4 cup heavy cream  
2 tablespoons corn syrup  
1 pound bar of milk chocolate  
Truffle Eggs

  
DIRECTIONS

 

1\. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 3-inch-high, 7-inch-round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with parchment paper. Coat parchment with cooking spray, and dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess.

2\. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa and espresso powders and water; whisk until dissolved. Whisk in sugar until smooth. Remove from heat, and whisk in eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; whisk until combined.

3\. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes. Unmold, and remove parchment; let cool.

4\. Trim tops of cake layers level. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with 1/2 cup ganache frosting. Place remaining layer, cut side down, on top. Coat top and sides with remaining cup frosting. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

5\. Put semisweet chocolate, cream, and corn syrup into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, and stir until smooth. Let cool 5 minutes. Pour over cake, and then refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

6\. Using a chef's knife, scrape milk chocolate bar at a 90-degree angle, forming enough curls and shards to measure 1 1/2 cups. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate until ready to use.

7\. Transfer cake to serving dish; form a nest with chocolate shavings on top, and fill with truffle eggs.

 

Wait no, that's just dumb and also terrible way to end a story. What had really happened with our current teams was that Ulna was continuing her terrible comedy routine to lighten the mood as no horror story ever does a terrible comedy routine when the monster comes the comedy was terrible as anybody could do better with candy-wrapper riddles and a whoopee cushion but Ulna had neither so it was just a ton of overused puns that everyone was groaning at. Not partaking in the comedy acts were Mugman and the Devil who were wandering through the darken hallways of the cabin with the candles being the only source of light either out or very dim.

 

Mugman could've sworn that they were being watched and had tried convincing the devil to turn back and stay in the living room with the rest of the gang. "We, don't even know what past here!" "whatever, it'll be less awful then that overly-cheerful skeleton and her terrible puns." "THE FLOOR IS TRYING TO EAT MY SHOES!" "well, walk faster then!" the devil's own pace wasn't as fast as he'd liked as the floor felt like a gross mass of teeth, tongue, and intestines it was one of the few times he wished he owned shoes so he wouldn't have to deal with this.

 

"Do you even have any idea what you're doing?" "No but for starters it's something aside from sitting with the bonehead brigade waiting for uncertain death." Mugman grabbed the devil by his shoulders and shook him "YOU'RE LEADING US _DIRECTLY_ INTO UNCERTAIN DEATH! YOU CAN SEE BUT CAN'T FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT OF A WET PAPER BAG AND I CAN  **BARELY** SEE AN INCH AWAY FROM MY OWN FACE! THIS IS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER!" After knocking Mugman's arms off of his shoulders, the Devil had decided to avenge his wounded pride through insults.

 

"Your nose being bigger then your hands ain't gonna kill us, ya lily-livered, conman quality china!" Mugman was already on edge but the devil just HAD to push him over, like a cat with a mug on the table "THAT'S IT FUZZBALL YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" the two of them flew into a full blown fist-fight, kicking up massive clouds of dust blocking most of the action but there was barely enough light to see it anyway. While the devil had the advantage of sight and his claws were still as painfully sharp as they were when he was older, Mugman was both currently the stronger physical fighter of the two and slightly bigger, two traits that had the devil pinned down crying for mercy only minutes later.

 

With the fire of anger extinguished as quickly as it came and the devil looking like a pitiful crying ball of fluff and shame Mugman helped the devil back up. "I-I'm sorry I lost my temper back there," he panted through an exhausted tone. "I was terrified and angry and I took it out on you, even though it was one of the worst things to do in this situation. Can we please just go back to the rest of the group and figure out what to do there?" the devil was speechless for a moment. As both Inkwell isle's go-to scapegoat and a very terrible person in general, the notion of someone owning up to their mistakes instead of blaming him was foreign and he didn't know how to respond.

 

Unfortunately even if the devil had agreed to Mugman's suggestion the hallway behind them closed up into a wall of grotesque bloodshot eyes that twitched and spasmed around violently while they tried to look at the devil and Mugman. The flesh like wall was blocking any attempt to go back and fueling the flames of fear and dread that currently rested in the duo's hearts. They backed away slowly from the disgusting blockade but the wall seemed to follow them at their pace. They stopped, the wall stopped. They continued, the wall continued. Without thinking the two broke into a run with the wall hot on their heels the two swore it was starting to get faster as the wall had gone from being a good amount of five feet away to inching in so close it was barely touching the devil's tail.


	15. Going down?

Any thought the devil or Mugman had of tripping the other to stall the wall for a few brief seconds of the thing slowing down were quickly dashed as candles and furniture in the hall were swallowed up by the flesh-wall thing as the unrelenting, not-stalled-in-the slightest eyes kept following them, at least Mugman's fear of being unable to see was addressed because now the wall was on fire thanks to the candles and it was so close the flames were practically licking at the backs of the unlucky pair as the flames now shined brightly enough for them to see that the path ahead appeared to be getting narrower and narrower.

 

The wall stayed on their trail. Luckily, or unluckily the floorboards underneath them gave out, Mugman grabbed the Devil's tail in one hand and a floorboard in the other while the devil had yelped in either pain, surprise, or both as his axe dropped out of his grip. The wall, Mugman and the devil watched the axe plummet down into the newly made abyss in the floor. It was a solid thirty seconds until the axe had hit the floor with a faint  _clang_ in what the pair assume was the basement of the magic-warped cabin. A split-second after the clang the bellowing of some kind of large monster followed.

 

Uneven newly burnt clusters of eyes had stopped dead in their tracks without any resistance as if instead of propelling forward at terrifying speeds the wall was simply following at a slow leisurely pace. The nerve of that lying-to-the-face-of-physics fleshy mass of fear and inconvenience. What made it even worse was now the disgusting thing was looking eagerly at them, like it had expected them to fall into the basement and would be very happy if they did just that. But as the floorboards felt that they were licking and chewing Mugman's gloved hand which certainly made him consider the pros and cons of letting go.

 

 

Not helping in the "pros" list in the slightest was that the devil was thrashing about like a terrified wounded animal and it was hard to keep a proper grip on both the slippery floorboards and the tail of the small beast. The Devil's heart was pounding in his chest like a bird in a cage that was too small for it. There was next to no rational thought in the little imp's mind as the fear of whatever lied at the basement, the guilt of unintentionally dragging Mugman into this dangerous dead end, and the anger of the magic he's wielded for as long as he could remember turing against him in such a humiliating manor.

 

Mugman could've sworn he saw a pair of eyes blink at him from the abyss of the basement. Well, to Inkwell Hell with the pro-con lists, if there's something at the basement that's big enough for it's eyes to be seen from that far away it's probably big enough to get his bones stuck between it's teeth. Using the momentum of the Devil's wild flailing Mugman swung the howling imp over his head where the devil managed to get at least his upper body on the floor while Mugman's grip on the floor slipped in the process, his fate now lying in the devil's hands or, rather his tail.

 

The Devil had never been a physically strong person, even when he was the demon king of Inkwell hell he never needed to be strong in the physical sense as magic, a silver tongue, and sharp wits were all that was needed to do his job and he had never even considered a possibility where magic would fail him but strength wouldn't. That is until, he was clawing at the fleshy floorboards with the weight of someone bigger then him clinging to his tail for dear life. However in spite of the fact he was practically skin, bones and fur he managed to claw his way up the floorboards and pulled Mugman up once he himself held a strong grip on the floor.

 

The eye wall looked annoyed at the duo's effort while they lay on the floor panting with exhaustion. The devil didn't want to move but forced himself up as the floor was starting to lick his fur and chew at his bandages, then he helped Mugman get back on his feet. They were too tired to run so they had walked away from the wall. When they noticed that the brightness of the wall's fire was dimming down they looked back to see that the wall was no longer chasing them, possibly because there was a large hole in the way. in both relief and disbelief the devil started laughing "We're Safe!" Mugman cheered "IN YOUR FACE WALL!" the devil gleefully shouted.

 

But then a sharp crack was heard, draining the room of the premature joy the two felt. The floor gave away both behind and underneath them as the two looked at each other in fear while the wall would be grinning smugly at them if the darned thing had a mouth. And then the two plummeted to the basement with their screams growing fainter and fainter as they unwillingly descended to the depths of the cabin's basement.


	16. "Let your conscience be your guide" is terrible advice to someone who had lost almost all moral standards long ago.

Back In the devil's Casino, while it had taken hours King Dice had managed to calm the high levels of chaos back down to the typical level of chaos everyone there was used to. Then he retired to his office. As he changed from his tattered suit to an identical but far less tattered suit he noticed that a lamp he kept on his desk had lit up on it's own. As he went over to turn it off he saw something he'd never thought he'd ever see again in his life.

 

For some strange reason, his soul contract was sitting on his desk, as well as the contracts of his most loyal employees "that's odd" he said out loud to himself as he picked up one of them "Devil always kept these locked up in his own desk." They seemed to be the real thing judging by their smell of aged paper, magic-infused ink, and old dried blood (The devil told him that the blood was what bound the soul to the contract, but he always thought that it was just his boss being extra.)

 

For a few moments he had entertained the idea of burning the contracts, setting himself and his employees free. Maybe he could make an honest living... No he was far too much of a con man to ever do that. Maybe he could get off of Inkwell and start a new casino completely unrelated to the Devil's casino, a classier casino, no more soul contracts to worry about, no having to deal with literal hell and demons every day. At the end of it he just sighed and folded the contracts up and placed them in his coat pocket. Even if he did leave the Devil's Casino for good where could he go?

 

He could've sworn he felt a tapping on his shoulder so he brushed it off. A slightly high pitched "whOA THERE!" later the tapping returned, feeling like a very tiny pair of feet tapping angrily. Shouldn't he be alone in his office? He looked to his shoulder to see a very tiny winged version of himself dressed in angelic garb glaring at him. He took a pack of cigars out of his pocket and slowly slid it away from him. "Are you really going to sit here and do nothing while those two mugs are in deep trouble?"

 

King Dice shrugged "I'm not the one who put them there, the phrase 'don't deal with the devil' exists because no matter what you do, someone's miserable in the end. I'm just glad it's not me." the tiny angel version of Dice punched his giant sleazy counterpart in the face. "THAT'S NOT THE POINT! ONE OF THEM IS DOOMED TO SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE IN HELL _AND_ HIS AFTERLIFE WHILE THE OTHER WILL LIVE IN GUILT FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!" Dice checked his other shoulder waiting for the "other guy" to show. "If the heavens wanted me to care, they wouldn't boot down babies to hell every chance they get." he replied coldly.

 

The angel was clearly fuming at this point, King Dice wouldn't be surprised if the small holy being caught on fire with how angry he looked. "Okay _stop_ " another high-pitched voice on his other shoulder this being also looked like a tiny version of him but instead of being dressed like a demon, this being was wearing a suit Identical to his, expect for that it was red and carried a pitchfork. "I know what you're trying to do, but give up the ' _give 'em a chance_ ' pitch. We all know it won't work." the angel huffed "why show up in the first place? this guy's already too stubborn to listen to reason!" King Dice swat the angel off his shoulder. He would not sit there and be insulted by something as big as one of his cards. Even if it did look like him.

 

"Look here pally," the tiny demon die spoke "Everyone in this office knows you ain't leaving this casino for all the gold in heaven and hell. But if one of those cup-chumps takes the throne you'll either have to fold, or force turn over a new leaf. Or in your case, an entire tree." The angel returned to Dice's shoulder, with a newfound smug look on his face at a knowing glint in his eyes "but if you do help out with this, just imagine how grateful the Devil will be when he learns that you helped get him back on the throne, maybe you'll be given a little extra something for your troubles."

 

"HEY! I was getting to that!" the demon Dice said sternly as he got up in his "angelic" counterpart's face. "Knock it off you two." King Dice brushed both of them off his shoulders "Even If I wanted to save the little twerps, or reap the rewards from doing so, the magic they've attracted is stronger and darker then anything I've got up my sleeves. It won't work." The demon die gestured to the hallway assumably toward's the devil's office "Well I'm sure the boss wouldn't mind if we took a peek at his spell books, especially when you're doing it in his favor."


	17. "good for nothing lackeys"

Having done their duties as "conscience" and temptation, Dice's shoulder angel and demon disappeared leaving the man himself alone in the devil's office. While it did give off an eerie feeling of "you don't belong in here" Dice ignored it. Even if he was caught by the Devil in the flesh it's not like he could do anything too bad to his "good for nothing lackey" in his current state.

 

 ~~Snooping through the devil's stuff~~ Trying to find ~~blackmail on his boss just incase he'd try to fire him or fry him once this mess was over~~  a way to get the devil back on his proper place in hell via diligent research in the devil's office was far more boring then Dice had assumed it would be. It didn't help that at least half of the books that he'd gone through were actually *ahem* adult magazines disguised as spell books, but after several hours there were only three books left: one that looked like a poorly made scrapbook covered in dust, the oldest looking law-book dice had never seen and a diary which Dice had assumed was either misplaced or stolen.

 

First, Dice tried the scrapbook as the diary looked like it belonged to a child and would probably be useless and the law book looked like it would fall apart just by touching it, flipping through the pages he had assumed it was just the same picture taken over and over again: a black and white picture of the devil and a thin man with tired, glassy eyes, a crooked smile and a ham sandwich for a head standing in front of the casino. with a different four digit number crudely scribbled on in the bottom-right corner, 16-something over and over until the 12th page where instead of a picture of the devil and "Earl Johnsand" as the book said his name was, there was a picture of Earl being eaten by a flock of birds.

 

The other pictures on the same page were almost identical to the first 11 pages, but replacing Earl with "lady Lucklily", a well dressed woman with a bouquet of lilies and four-leaf clovers for a head. Poor Lucklily had only lasted 3 pages before the death picture of her being burned at the stake at the hands of who Dice assumed was her own friends and family. Right next to the ghastly image? A giant crab in a tuxedo named Saltine Marine, who after 6 pages was shown being boiled alive in a tub of butter. The devil never appeared in the pictures of the past manager's deaths and Dice didn't know if that made it better or worse.

 

This had continued for the next 208 pages. A picture of the devil and a person in front of the casino for a few pages, the person's untimely death (usually something very painful-looking,) and the new guy in right next to the death pic. Until after the death pic of "berry 'the bandit' blowup" a one-armed older woman wearing a bandit mask and made entirely of assorted types of fruity gum (died being trampled to death by race horses). There was a picture of himself standing beside the devil. Dice froze for a moment, he didn't remember posing for such a picture (or having it be taken in the first place) and knowing the context of the book, he had hesitantly turned the pages.

 

Knowing just how replaceable he was to the devil had chilled him to his bones. Did he even remember these people? Dice hadn't even known about them until now. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" said a voice slightly muffled by chewed food Dice jolted at the sound of someone behind him, one of the devil's millions of imps, still not as replaceable as the casino's manager, swallowed his bite of ham sandwich (one of the last things Dice wanted to see right now) and continued "You bug us less then those other suckers and kinda protect us every now and again, those other guys also found that book and wanted to prevent their own deaths, but it either didn't work or they left one death for a worse death." Dice slowly closed the book and put it back on the shelf without breaking eye contact with the imp.

 

"Gotta plan Dice-man?" "right now," Dice took the contracts out of his coat pocket "it's burn these and get the hell outta here! nothing the devil can offer is worth _that_ " "aw, and let some silly scrapbook stop ya from savin' the boss?" Dice glanced suspiciously at the imp "and how _did_ you know I was planning on doing that before hand? I coulda sworn I was alone." the imp clearly looked flustered "urm, a-anyway, that law book's nowhere near as weak as it looks, the damned thing could survive the freaking apocalypse, and it's full of a lot more then just politics." The imp opened the law book to a seemingly random page "here, look at this" the book read "a fight for the throne  must be to the death, to let a past king live is not only too much mercy a demon king should be allowed to show but also a promise for the past king, or one of his former lackeys to return for the new king's head. Therefore, any king dethroned must be killed or else the crowning is invalid."

 

King Dice took the book from the imp, and reread the last part. He knew that the devil, while now roughly as big as a house cat and scary as a wet kitten, was still very much alive and angry. "huh, maybe those mugs aren't in as much trouble as we thought." until he flipped the page "that's why as soon as the new king is crowned, any loose magic from the transfer from old-to-new king immediately sets out to kill both the past king and current king if no effort to kill the past king is made it twelve hours" How long had it been since Dice had last seen the devil and those mugs?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I learned that sandwiches were basically invented in a casino, casinos were invented around 1638, "craps" came from "crabs", and slot machines used to give out fruity gum. I used this information to make a bunch of dead OCs that not even I care about.


	18. bubbling, troubling, beezelbrew

Back in the living room of the skeletal household, Ulna's comedy act had died down into awkward silence as she seemed to run out of non arm related puns of the situation and telling arm puns had started making the arm walls make very rude gestures at her. Patella was sitting to the side reading a book as if she was ignoring the fact her house was engulfed in corrupted magic that was hellbent on killing everyone and everything in it. Maxilla was loudly praying for any god listening to show enough mercy to let her and her siblings live and making heat of the moment false promises like "I'll do everything and live anyway you want me to without complaint". Clavicle was chugging the rest of his flask as if he was told it that it would undo the event of tonight and Cuphead was rubbing the spot that the trident dripped on him as it had stung a lot.

 

Then a pair of screams were heard from down the hall where Mugman and the Devil had gone down. Everyone jolted up while the arms had started to sway as if the ghastly noise was music that they were dancing to. Maxilla's prayers got more desperate, Patella slammed her book shut, Clavicle dropped his flask with it's contents now spilling on the floor and being lapped up by floor-mouths, Ulna was shaking like a chihuahua in Antarctica during an earthquake.

 

Cuphead tried to run towards the scream, but had been blocked off by the arms, as he tried squeezing himself through gaps in the arms they grabbed him and held him by his legs above the room for all to see. Like a chandelier of bad ideas and desperation. "LET ME GO! MY BROTHER'S IN DANGER!" he shouted as he struggled in their grip. To Cuphead's surprise the arms obeyed, hesitantly putting him back down with Clavicle and Patella and continued swaying, although they swayed significantly less then before and when he approached the wall again it pushed him away.

 

He glared at the mocking arm wall, how dare it stand between him and his brother when it could be doing other, much better things with it's life? Stepping back enough so that the wall wouldn't grab him, he shot at the arm wall. Or tried to. There was no magic bullets coming from his finger gun, he shot again and again but there was nothing. In a panic he shot a lot more frequently, more out of desperation as opposed to trying to get the wall shot at this point, had Elder Kettle's potion worn off? Mugman clearly sounded like he was in trouble, how could a potion so powerful and useful just give out at such a terrible time?

 

"Kiddo?" Clavicle tried to get Cuphead's attention, and failed as Cuphead kept trying to shoot. "c'mon, it's gotta work we don't have any other options!" As this was something he felt Cuphead had some amount of control over, Clavicle tried again "hey, Kiddo?" it had been no different from the first attempt. Maxilla vocally stepped in as she knew Clavicle's soft voice wouldn't even stir the kid out of the fear-laced trance he was in. "WAKE UP YOU PORCELAIN BRAT" She screamed as she threw a lamp at him. While she did miss her target, getting lamps involved was a dirty trick "Hey! what on earth was that fo- OH GOOD GOLLY!"

 

The room now had a minimum of twenty blue flying fireballs, five pink ones, battle axes embedded into the walls, The arms were now juggling bombs with bat wings. A few imps that Cuphead knew weren't there before were scratching at a corner like cats that didn't want to be here, and now the room was slightly on fire. He blinked twice to make sure this wasn't some sort of illusion but the chaos stayed. Ulna lit up, finally some non arm pun opportunities! "Things are really getting hell-fired up aren't they? at least our handy audience is having a blast!"

 

With that, the wall threw one of the bombs at Ulna, it exploded leaving her and Maxilla covered in soot. "Everybody's a critic" she sulked. "CALL OFF THE DEMONIC-BATTLE MAGIC" Maxilla shouted at Cuphead, as he was the one the Devil's trident chose to be the demon king. Still in shock from the sudden amount of fire, imps and weapons in the room, Cuphead flinched but snapped his fingers and the room went back to normal. No fire, no imps, no arms... The room was now all the way back to normal!

 

The skeletons cheered "That terrible audience is gone!" "The gods have answered my prayers!" "we're not going to die!" At least the sisters did, Clavicle just ran out of the house as fast as he could the moment he realized that the cabin had doors again. Cuphead just stared at his own hands in silence. The devil's magic was his magic now and he didn't know how to use any of it. Had he Unintentionally doomed his brother, the skeletons and the devil in the first place?


End file.
